Penguins steal one from Hurricanes in shootout victory

Penguins/NHL Videos

The Evgeni Malkin Show was in peak form again, but credit these two points to Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

On a night when the Penguins were sloppy in their end, Fleury made a number of spectacular saves during a 2-1 shootout victory Tuesday over the Carolina Hurricanes.

He stopped Carolina center Eric Staal's shootout attempt to finish the game, and the contest never would have reached extra time if not for Fleury's performance. On three occasions, including Jussi Jokinen's opportunity with less than 30 seconds remaining in the third period, the Hurricanes found themselves alone with the puck in front of Fleury.

He denied them each time while stopping 25 of 26 shots.

"That's why he's paid what he is," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "He's a big part of the team. Sometimes when he's not playing well, we've got to pick him up. And vice versa."

Last night was clearly vice versa.

The Penguins' shutdown defensive pair Zbynek Michalek and Paul Martin endured a rough first period and was on the ice when Carolina defenseman Jamie McBain scored the game's first goal.

Fleury, though, was perfect the remainder of the way and made it clear that this was an important victory. After two feel-good wins in Florida, the Penguins didn't want to fall to one of three teams that is 14th in the Eastern Conference. They've now won three straight following a six-game losing skid.

"Definitely a nice win," Fleury said. "And we haven't won at home in a while. We just need to keep it rolling right now."

Two big hits dictated the rest of the game. One of those hits is Malkin himself, who temporarily moved into a tie for the league lead with 52 points. He evened the game late in the first period on a shot from a nearly impossible angle that Malkin managed to lift over Carolina goalie Cam Ward's shoulder.

Malkin also scored in the shootout. Still three weeks shy of the one-year anniversary of the night Malkin tore his ACL and MCL, he is showing no effects of the injury.

"Everyone you talk to says an ACL takes you 12 months to recover," said Orpik, who noted this is the best he has seen Malkin play since the 2009 Eastern Conference finals against Carolina.

"If this isn't 100 percent form, that's pretty scary."

Something scary also happened early in the third period when Orpik belted Carolina star Jeff Skinner with what appeared to be a clean body check. Skinner, who recently missed a month with a concussion, was only playing in his second game since returning from the injury and briefly left the game.

A referee admitted following the game that Orpik did nothing illegal.

"He apologized after," said Orpik, who appreciated the gesture. "It happens quick. Tough call for him. It's tough to fault those guys when it happens at real time. They're just trying to do the right thing."

Following Fleury's save on Jokinen in the final second and a fairly uneventful overtime, Fleury and Malkin continued to perform in the shootout. Right wing James Neal put the game away with a shootout goal and nicely summarized which two players were most responsible for this victory.

"Great job by Flower," Neal said, "and a nice goal by Geno."

Scoring breakdown

First period

Hurricanes, 1-0 (2:11): D Jamie McBain snuck in from the right point, and with D Zbynek Michalek and D Paul Martin back on their heels, found himself alone in the slot and beat G Marc-Andre Fleury.

Penguins, 1-1 (18:38): C Evgeni Malkin swiped a puck away from C Eric Staal, and then, from a bad angle, flicked a wrist shot to the short side over G Cam Ward's left shoulder.

TribLive commenting policy

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments  either by the same reader or different readers.

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.

Print Source

Welcome to PrintSource, a division of Trib Total Media.

We have established a veteran team that provides daily and weekly newspaper companies with a comprehensive set of services that include design, print, packaging and delivery of their products, all from one source and location.

Gone are the days when each facet of newspaper printing and delivery had to be outsourced to different companies and venues. Now, PrintSource provides a viable solution with just one phone call.

Digital Sales

We offer a wide variety of traditional and new digital advertising options customized to fit your needs!

Whether you're just starting out, or you've been a keystone in the community for years, our knowledgeable staff can provide you with a customized package including online banners/advertisements, Social Media Marketing (Facebook / Twitter), Website development, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing solutions and much more!

Contact your local sales rep today for details, personalized proposal and a meeting to discuss how we can meet your needs.